The Sorrow of Belgium

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The Sorrow of Belgium (Dutch: Het verdriet van België) is a novel by the Belgian author Hugo Claus published in 1983, and is arguably his best known work outside of Belgium. It was made into a mini-series in 1994.

The novel is classified as bildungsroman and is composed out of two parts:

  • "The Sorrow"(Dutch: Het verdriet); 27 numbered and sub-titled chapters
  • "of Belgium"(Dutch: van België); text not subdivided in chapters

It tells the story of the childhood and youth of Louis Seynaeve (Claus's alter ego) in the Flemish village of Walle (a part of Kortrijk) from 1939 to 1947, coinciding with the period Second World War, the German occupation of Belgium, and its aftermath.

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